CURTIS WOODHOUSE: Leeds have become a joke of a club

CURTIS WOODHOUSE

It’s been a case of more strange goings-on at Leeds United this week with Uwe Rosler sacked after just 11 games in charge and Steve Evans appointed in his place.

This is the sixth managerial change at Elland Road in just over 12 months, and the situation at the club is ridiculous.

New Leeds United head coach Steve Evans

Under Massimo Cellino the Whites have become a joke, which is a shame because Leeds are a genuine giant of the English game and their fans deserve better.

The sad reality is that as long as Cellino is at the helm, things aren’t going to get any better.

The man is an idiot of the highest order and Leeds United have more chance of dropping out of the Championship than to climbing out of it while he is running things.

Look at Cagliari, the club that he used to own in Italy, they went through something like 36 managers in 22 years.

He doesn’t know how to operate a football club.

Steve Evans could be manager for a week, for a month, but one thing is for certain, and that is that he won’t still be in charge in a year’s time.

Given the things he said about United during his time as Rotherham manager, it’s a bit of a surprise to see him there at all, but you have to be realistic, once a club the size of Leeds come calling, Evans isn’t going to turn them down.

It’s a big opportunity for him, and to be fair, his record is pretty decent, he does get results and has taken Crawley up the leagues as well as getting Rotherham into the Championship.

I don’t know the guy so I can’t comment on what he’s like, but what I can say is that he’s not well-liked.

I’ve spoken to plenty of ex-pros who have played under Evans in the past and not one of them has a good word to say about him. He’s not popular as either a manager or a person.

But I doubt very much that it will matter what he’s like, whatever happens, he’ll be out of Elland Road before we know it and the club will be lurching towards another disaster.

McKENZIE DESERVES TITLE SHOT ......

Leon McKenzie belongs to a pretty exclusive club of two members. Along with myself, he is the only other top-level footballer to have made the difficult transition to professional boxing.

He recently won his British title eliminator fight with John McCallum and is now just one more win away from becoming British champion.

The former Norwich striker, who like me played in the Premier League before hanging up his boots and entering the ring, began his professional boxing career in 2013.

He has had a lot of problems in his personal life and he has done really well to get to this point, and I’m delighted for him. At one stage he was struggling with depression so much that he admitted to having contemplated suicide.

Nobody should underestimate how great an achievement it is for him to have bounced back from that low point.

He deserves his opportunity to fight either Rocky Fielding or Callum Smith for the British title.

If I pretend for a minute that I am not Leon’s friend and try to be neutral, I would have to say that I think at the moment he would be a huge underdog against either of those two fighters.

I think that he would be better waiting another 12 or 18 months and then he would have a better chance of beating them and becoming champion.

But Leon is very talented, and although I wouldn’t be putting my mortgage on him winning that fight if it is offered to him straight away, I certainly wouldn’t say he has no chance.

Leon and I were good friends when we played together at Peterborough United and we used to talk a lot due to us both having a great interest in boxing.

He has gone on record as saying that what I did as a boxer after I finished playing football was a great inspiration to him.

That’s a big compliment and I hope that Leon isn’t the only one I can inspire into taking up the sport and that others will look at what I’ve done and follow suit.

GOOD NEWS COMING FOR HULL UNITED .........

As Hull United have been locked out of its Dene Park ground since the middle of September, and therefore have not played any “home games” since then, where and when are the club going to recommence their home fixtures, and what do the Northern Counties East Football League have to say about this unusual situation? David Price

I am pleased to be able to say that the club should be announcing our new home ground in the near future.

An official announcement is likely to be made by the end of this week.

Until all the details are confirmed I cannot say too much, but I plan to be able to go into more detail in next Thursday’s column.

We are currently waiting for the Northern Counties East League to inspect a ground and approve it, but I think this is merely a formality as our proposed new home is a fantastic facility.

What I can say is that everybody involved in the club is really excited by this move and what it will mean for us going forwards.

It is something that I am confident will help us progress both on and off the pitch, raise our profile and attract new players and fans.